Gate Buttress Descent

I am coming to Little Cottonwood for the first time and was curious about the Gate Buttress descent.  My wife and I are looking to do something like Beckey>Pebbles and bambam>Orange Sling and Tarzan>Tingey's Terror>Tingey's Torture and maybe a few others up there.  I'm a little confused on the descent.  Most of these climbs reference the Schoolroom rappels.  The description on most of these climbs is pretty slim with something as simple as "from the top of the pitch scramble down 30-40ft to a tree with lots of slings and a few rap rings ..." (from Schoolroom area main page).  Although, that seems simple enough a lot of times the "scramble" part is the more cumbersome aspect of the descent.  

How hard is it to find these rap stations?  Is it pretty easy to traverse over from the top of Orange Sling and find them?  What about from Tingey's?  

Thanks for the help!

Get a copy of "The Granite Guide" and study the topo for the Schoolroom rappels. May also be worth it to climb Schoolroom or Schoolroom West first, to familiarize yourself with where those rappel stations are. People get lost on those rappels consistently, but anyone with enough mountain sense (and sunlight or at least a headlamp) should be able to figure it out. From the top bolted anchor of Tingey's Torture, you can also rappel east toward the Flakes and get down in 5 raps with a 70m. I've done it both ways and can attest that this is probably the easier way down if you are unfamiliar with the area. 

I heard about the newish descent on Tingey's and I'll probably do that but still a bit worried about the Schoolroom descent.  Maybe I'll take you suggestion and do Schoolroom right and then Beckey>Pebbles and bambam>Orange Sling.   I was planning on grabbing a guide when I'm in town.  What's the best local shop to buy it from?   Thanks for the inputs!

Cosmic Charliewrote:

I heard about the newish descent on Tingey's and I'll probably do that but still a bit worried about the Schoolroom descent.  Maybe I'll take you suggestion and do Schoolroom right and then Beckey>Pebbles and bambam>Orange Sling.   I was planning on grabbing a guide when I'm in town.  What's the best local shop to buy it from?   Thanks for the inputs!

IME or The Gear Room. 

The school room raps are not that easy to get to form the top of Tingey's.  Granite Guide has no description at all...  I've done it twice now, and I think I found the best way.  From the top of Tingey's hike up and left over the ridge.  Start descending trending right.  You'll likely come across rap slings quickly, but don't take those.  Trend skier's right to avoid multiple dirty raps or downclimbs.  Keep trending down and right following the path of least resistance.  You'll find a tree filled brushy gully which sucks, but it's better than other options.  Follow the gully down.  Eventually you'll probably stumble upon some bolts for an easy slab route (I think this is Gumbyland).  You can down climb bushy terrain skiers right.  Once you find these bolts be on the lookout for the first rap anchor which is a bunch of slings tied around a tree.  I think it takes 45 minutes to an hour to get here.  The second rap is a bolted anchor.  From the bottom of the second rap it's very straight forward.  Tingey's link up is a great route; one of my favorites.  Take a one of the variations above Fudd Ledge to avoid gully climbing.  The 5.6 crack out right is a great variation.  Tingey's Direct and Last Caress are great variations as well.  

Thanks for the descriptions / input Kyle, C and Thumer!  I'll probably climb Tingey's and do the 5 raps the first day and maybe attempt Beckey>Pebbles and bambam>Orange Sling with the Schoolroom descent if I'm feeling good on day two.  

Any other routes you'd suggest for an out of town 5.7-5.10a team?  We prefer long multi-pitch routes but would crag as well.  Anything is helpful - thanks!  

If you want to climb a long moderate go and climb The Standard Thumb and be sure to take the Indecent Exposure Variation.

I really like the Standard Thumb route as well.  The reviews on MP make it sound like a bad route, but if you don't mind some offwidth, it really is good.  Bring a #6 for the squeeze chimney. On the descent from the Thumb, you want to stay further left to avoid getting cliffed out.  Schoolroom West with the mantel variation 5.9 for the first pitch, and the Movie Variation 5.8 for the final pitch is great.  Green Adjective area has lots of really good single pitch 5.9's.  Kermit's Wad, Smitty's Wet Dream, Touch Up, Gordon's, Green Adjective, After the Fall, Wheels on Fire are all really good for a cragging day.  I'd check out that area for sure.  If you like sport climbing, Hellgate has friendly bolting and friendly grading too.  BCC has some good stuff too.  Outside Corner, Eleventh Hour, and High Dive are my favorite multipitch routes in BCC.  Tingey's and Standard Thumb are the longest in the area, and there aren't too many other routes that long.  When are you coming?  South facing LCC routes can be unbearably hot mid summer.  

I'll be there 5/26-31.  It looks like it is going to be pretty sunny and hot this weekend!

For the long little cottonwood routes, I'd try and start around 6-7am.  The Thumb and Tingey's both climb pretty quick (4-5hrs).  You could probably top out around 11am before it gets too hot.  Becky's Wall/Dihedrals area is shaded in the evening, so that's a good option for later.  Hellgate is upper elevation, so it'll be cool enough, and I think it has melted out enough to climb.  There are a few multipitch sport routes there as well.  A lot of stuff in BCC is shaded, so that's a good option too.

Thumer - thanks for the thorough responses!  We usually plan for an early start.  I'm not sure how the population growth has been in SLC recently but Western Washington has been pretty rough.  If you don't get up early and go it's a waiting game.  We were planning on getting on something in BCC just to check it out.  The first thing that caught my eye was Crescendo but maybe look at a few others.  My wife is really hellbent on getting up to Lake Blanche off a recommendation for a hike from a friend so I thought I'd maybe rope her into doing Eleventh Hour on Sundial.  As mentioned, thanks for all the input and have a great Memorial Day!

Thumerwrote:  Hellgate is upper elevation, so it'll be cool enough, and I think it has melted out enough to climb.  

Some snow on the ground, but the walls are good to go! 

I would also recommend looking at the Pentapitch area in schoolroom.  Pentapitch is super fun and you can easily get on Sasquatch as well.  Sasquatch is one of the best crack pitches in LCC of any grade.  Plus, these are on the shady side of the canyon.  This area will stay in the shade until mid afternoon.  Schoolroom area and gate buttress get blasted by the sun.

Greg Gavinwrote:

If you want to climb a long moderate go and climb The Standard Thumb and be sure to take the Indecent Exposure Variation.

Go for S direct if going up the thumb! If you are ok with run out 5.9 slab.

Thanks for all the inputs.  Our trip was pretty amazing and jealous of the climbing / access compared to where I live.  

Thanks for reporting back.  What did you wind up doing?

First day was did Tarzan>Tingey Terror> Tingey Torture.  I'm really glad I found out about that rappelling descent.  It was super quick and straight forward and you even get a bit of an airy rap on the third one which was cool for my wife.  The second day my wife was a bit worked from the climb and sun so we hiked Lake Blanche and went to Park City.  We ended up seeing a couple moose which was a first.  Sundial peak looks like a fun jaunt and may try Eleventh Hour or something when there is less snow / next time.  Decided to try Big Cottonwood and climbed Crescendo and Outside Corner.  Cragged at some wall near there (which I'm forgetting the name of) and had beers at SaltFire.  All-in-all really impressed with the area, the climbs and how friendly the community was.  Thanks for a great weekend SLC!